1. Field of Endeavor
The present invention relates to pathogen identification and more particularly to a method for genetic identification of unknown pathogenic or non-pathogenic organisms in a sample.
2. State of Technology
U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,094 issued Aug. 2, 2005 for chip-based species identification and phenotypic characterization of microorganisms invented by Thomas R. Gingeras, David Mack, Mark S. Chee, Anthony J. Berno, Lubert Stryer, Ghassan Ghandour, and Ching Wang provides state of technology information. U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,094 discloses systems, methods, and devices for characterizing and identifying organisms. In one aspect it provides, a method for identifying a genotype of a first organism, comprising: (a) providing an array of oligonucleotides at known locations on a substrate, said array comprising probes complementary to reference DNA or RNA sequences from a second organism; (b) hybridizing a target nucleic acid sequence from the first organism to the array; and (c) based on an overall hybridization pattern of the target to the array, identifying the genotype of the first organism, and optionally identifying a phenotype of the first organism.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,391 for methods and systems for control of microfluidic devices invented by Kalyan Handique, Karthik Ganesan, and Sundaresh N. Brahmasandra provides state of technology information. U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,391 discloses a method for controlling the operation of a digital-type microfluidic (“MF”) device (i) wherein an MF device includes one or more passages for confining one or more micro-droplets, the passages having one or more stable positions for the micro-droplets, and (ii) includes one or more internal components responsive to control signals, the internal components operatively associated with the passages for control and monitoring the MF device, the method including: (a) providing one or more micro-droplet processing requests, wherein a micro-droplet processing request specifies performing at least one action on at least one micro-droplet, the requests including either (i) creating one or more new micro-droplets at selected stable positions, or (ii) moving one or more micro-droplets from current stable positions to selected next stable positions, or (iii) combining two or more micro-droplets into one or more new micro-droplets at selected stable positions, or (iv) mixing one or more micro-droplets, and (b) generating control signals, which are provided to the MF device, wherein the control signals are generated in a pattern and sequence that is responsive to each micro-droplet processing request so that the internal components of the MF device that are responsive to the control signals function together to perform the requested micro-droplet processing in the MF device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,041,481 for chemical amplification based on fluid partitioning invented by Brian L. Anderson, Billy W. Colston, Jr., and Chris Elkin provides state of technology information. U.S. Pat. No. 7,041,481 discloses an apparatus for nucleic acid amplification of a sample comprising means for partitioning the sample into partitioned sections and means for performing PCR on the partitioned sections of the sample. Another embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus for nucleic acid amplification and detection of a sample comprising means for partitioning the sample into partitioned sections, means for performing PCR on the partitioned sections of the sample, and means for detection and analysis of the partitioned sections of the sample. The present invention also provides a method of nucleic acid amplification of a sample comprising the steps of partitioning the sample into partitioned sections and subjecting the partitioned sections of the sample to PCR. Another embodiment of a method of the present invention provides a method of nucleic acid amplification and detection of a sample comprising the steps of partitioning the sample into partitioned sections, subjecting the partitioned sections of the sample to PCR, and detecting and analyzing the partitioned sections of the sample.